AP names Carovillano news director in Asia-Pacific

NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press has named Brian Carovillano news director for the Asia-Pacific region in a reorganization that brings all print, photo and video journalists under a single leadership.

Carovillano previously had been international regional editor overseeing AP's news stories in text in the region from India to Japan and including Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands.

"The decision to create an overall news director for Asia reflects the AP's move to integrate its storytelling, regardless of the medium," said John Daniszewski, AP's senior managing editor for international news.

The AP has more than 200 journalists in the Asia Pacific region, and the reorganization is designed to ensure that its text, photo and TV operations function together seamlessly.

The current regional photo and video editors — Greg Baker for photos and Celine Rosario for video — along with assistant Asia editor Vijay Joshi in text will report to Carovillano and serve as the Asia news leadership team.

"Aligning AP's resources across this vast region to tell the story in a way which joins up our journalism and puts the customers' needs at the center of our thinking is the task," said Sandy MacIntyre, director of international television news. "I can't think of anyone better to be leading the AP's mission at a time when success means building on our traditions of accuracy and speed to make our content relevant and accessible to digital consumers in the burgeoning information economies of Asia."

"Constant and close coordination between photo, text and video formats is essential to effective and successful journalism and this change will enhance our ability to make the very best use of all our resources," said Santiago Lyon, director of photography for the cooperative.

Based in Bangkok since 2010, Carovillano has led AP's coverage of major Asian stories including the ascension of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, where AP launched a photo and text bureau last year in addition to its video bureau since 2006, the expansion of China's global reach and the political changes under way in Myanmar since the release of Nobel prize-winning resistance leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Carovillano was the South regional editor in the United States before moving to Asia, leading AP's award-winning coverage of the Gulf oil spill among other stories.

He joined the AP in Providence, R.I., in 2001. In 2003, he transferred to Boston. In 2006, he became news editor in San Francisco, transferring to Atlanta in 2008 to launch the South Desk.

Carovillano, 39, is a native of Westfield, N.J., and a graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine.